Mill Humenné by Atrium Architekti; Slovakia

The dilapidated object of the old non-functional mill was given a new face, according to a project from Atrium Architekti studio. A new feature comes with her hand. The building was awarded the National Architecture Prize – the Dušan Jurkovič Prize 2017. Logically, the flats have supplemented the existing structure of solitary family houses and the medium-high ossampler building of residential buildings near the nearby elementary school.

The street line, as well as the distance to the neighboring land, are given by the existing buildings. Local service communications from the north side lead the site. The terrain of the building site is considered south by a slight decline. An object with a rectangular plan is located in its northern part. On the ground floor there will be two apartments with access to private gardens separated from the surrounding green hedge. Among the apartments there is a boiler room and common areas with cellars. On the second and third floors there are three apartments. On the fourth floor are three maisonette apartments, the upper, 5th floor of which has two outbuildings on the open terrace. The roof is designed as a tin zinc titanium with slots on open terraces.

Do not lose, resuscitate

It is to be said that anything in the place of a broken-down building would be better. New apartments, however, have the potential to truly and truly revive the building. To the investor’s point of view, he also did not use the popular formula: the old burst and rebuild and modern. Architects did not miss the original volume and interior layout. They do not try to completely overlap it and rework it; their intervention, however, involves the former mill in the new facade and represents a new arrangement of holes, but there is still a hint that it is not a new building.

The interventions can be compared to a clean and uncompromising cut that will allow rapid and effective treatment. Simple windows and tent roof in the slope that refers to the original shape of the roof are reminiscent of the original fill of the object. The design works with titanium zinc roofing. Sure, it is not the cheapest idea, but any other material would taste refined reconstruction either from a functionally functional point of view (in the case of titanium substitution for a cheaper colored sheet) or aesthetic (any other cover). Balconies in the form of sloping drawers and the old-fashioned element of the gallery give the project a joke and smut. The use of sthook could be considered as another reference to the production past.

However, the shape of the pavlax itself and the vertical communications, which are without barriers admitted to the exterior as a new element added, are puristly contemporary, almost timeless. The playfulness and ease of input reveals even the inevitable accentuation of the input by pulling one panel out of the treble, replacing it with a transparent glass railing. On a monochromatic palette with white plaster and gray metallic elements, the agate wood on the extended balconies and outdoor applications and interiors blended.

Text provided by the architects.